Ram cell having trench sidewall load

ABSTRACT

A random access memory (RAM) cell of a trench within a semiconductor substrate. The RAM cell has a load device in the form of a sidewall around at least part of the perimeter of the trench. The load device should be connected to either one of the source/drain regions or the gate in a field effect transistor (FET). If the load device is a capacitor, using the sidewall structure as one plate and the wall of the trench as the other plate, with a thin dielectric layer between, then a dynamic RAM cell (DRAM) cell with result. On the other hand, if the sidewall load device is a resistor, then a static RAM cell or SRAM will result. The compact nature of the trench sidewall load structure will consume appreciably less lateral space than conventional RAM cells. Additionally, the gate for the FET in the bottom floor of the trench can be formed at the same time and out of the same conductive layer as the conductive sidewall load device, an advantage which saves process steps. The conductive layer may be doped semiconductor material, such as polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon); a metal, such as aluminum; a refractory metal silicide or a combination of these.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to random access memory (RAM) cells, structures and devices, and more particularly relates to RAM cells of compact design.

Background of the Invention

It is well known that in the quest for improving integrated circuits to very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits and ultra large scale integrated (ULSI) integrated circuits, that a major concern is how to fabricate smaller devices so that they may be more densely packed into a given area of semiconductor surface. One approach to this goal is to build the various devices or their features in a vertical orientation, rather than in the typical lateral or horizontal orientation. For example, the various devices could be built into mesas or pedestals extending perpendicularly to the surface of the semiconductor substrate, or such features could be built into trenches or grooves that are etched or cut into the semiconductor substrate surface.

Of particular concern is increasing the device density in the highly regular memory arrays where there is an ever-present need to reduce the area occupied by each individual memory cell. Typically, the densest memories are the random access memories (RAMs), particularly the dynamic RAMs (DRAMs). A conventional DRAM cell has one transistor and one capacitor. Being extremely simple, DRAM cells are often the subjects of new technologies designed to make the transistor and capacitor components thereof ever smaller. However, there are considerable manufacturing problems with many of the proposed DRAM cell structures that are built in vertical orientations, such as mesas or trenches. The trenches are typically deep and narrow, but etching uniform and straight-walled trenches into the substrate is difficult to control. It is further very difficult to form layers and others structures within such a narrow trench. It would be advantageous as well if the DRAM structures could be adapted for a static RAM (SRAM) cell.

Sidewall spacers are known integrated circuit features, particularly with respect to metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors (MOSFETs). Sidewall spacers are used in the fabrication of lightly doped drains (LDDs) to space apart the heavier doped portion of source/drain regions from the gate, leaving the lighter doped region self-aligned to the gate edge. In an attempt to reduce the lateral space occupied by a typical MOSFET, at least one device is known which uses a sidewall spacer as a gate. The gate length is appreciably shortened by using the spacer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a DRAM cell of reduced lateral area to permit denser packing of the DRAM array.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a DRAM cell with features that are adaptable to provide a compact SRAM cell as well.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a RAM cell structure that is readily manufacturable employing conventional technologies.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a DRAM cell having a large potential capacitance and a SRAM cell with a large potential resistance.

In carrying out these and other objects of the invention, there is provided, in one form, an integrated circuit having a trench sidewall load device formed in a semiconductor substrate. The circuit has a trench with a floor and at least one wall around the perimeter of the trench. There is at least one sidewall structure in the trench wall, and a transistor in the floor of the trench having one gate and two source/drain regions. The sidewall structure is formed of conductive material and is connected to at least one of the source/drain regions or the gate to serve as a load thereto.

Brief Description of the Drawings

FIG. 1 is a three-quarters isometric section view of one embodiment of the RAM cell of the present invention where the sidewall load device is a capacitor to make the cell a DRAM cell; and

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the present RAM cell where the sidewall load device is a resistor to make the cell a SRAM cell.

It will be appreciated that the proportions of the various features shown in the FIGS. may be exaggerated for clarity of illustration.

Detailed Description of the Invention

Shown in FIG. 1 is an integrated circuit DRAM cell 10 which is built into a semiconductor substrate 12, which, in this case for illustrative purposes only, has a lightly n⁻ doped body 14, a lightly p⁻ doped layer 16, which may be an epitaxial layer or the like, and a heavily p⁺ doped layer 18, which may be formed by implantation, diffusion, epitaxial layer growth, or other means. The substrate 12 has a trench 20 formed therein which, in turn, has a trench floor 22 and a trench wall 24. The shape of the trench 20 is immaterial, and may be a square or rectangle, as shown in FIG. 1, or some other shape.

Over the surface of the trench 20, including the floor 22 and walls 24, and the p⁺ layer 18 is a thin dielectric film 26. Within trench 20 are two devices, a field effect transistor (FET) 28 and a trench sidewall load device 30. The FET 28 has two source/drain regions 32 and 34 in the floor 22 of the trench, separated from each other by a channel 36. Covering the channel 36 on the dielectric layer 26 is the FET gate 38. In the particular embodiment shown in FIG. 1 there are optional sidewall spacers 40 on either side of the gate 38, which could be employed in the conventional formation of lightly doped drain features, not shown in FIG. 1.

The trench sidewall load device 30 shown in FIG. 1 is a capacitor and has a sidewall structure 42 on at least one wall 24 of the trench 20; in the particular embodiment, sidewall structure 42 covers the perimeter of the trench 20. Sidewall structure 42 is made of a conductive material such as a metal, a doped semiconductor material, for example doped polycrystalline silicon, a refractory metal silicide, or a combination of these. The sidewall structure 42 forms one plate of the capacitor and the layer 18 forms the other plate of the capacitor, the two plates being separated by thin dielectric layer 26. The sidewall structure 42 may also extend only part-way around the perimeter of trench 20. Alternatively, the sidewall structure 42 may be split into two or more segments to provide multiple load devices for the central FET 28.

To serve as a load device 30, the capacitor must have one of its plates tied to FET 28. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, there is present a contact 44 between the left side sidewall load device 42 and source/drain region 32. Additionally, n⁺ region 34 is connected to bit line 46, which again is of conductive material such as a metal, for example, aluminum, a doped semiconductive material, a refractory metal silicide, etc. It should be realized that contact 44 is only schematically shown in FIG. 1, and that the contact may suitably be a buried contact, a shared contact or a silicided contact. Also, the gate 38 of FET 28 is contiguous with and/or connected to the word line 48 which is also a conductive material.

Indeed, an optimization of the elements of the cell may find that it is advantageous to place two transistors or FETs 28 in the bottom of trench 20. Both FETs 28 could then share the bit line.

In the construction of the DRAM cell 10, the semiconductor substrate may typically be monocrystalline silicon, although other materials, such as gallium arsenide may be useful as well. The thin dielectric layer 26 and the gate sidewalls 42 may be any suitable dielectric, such as silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, combinations of the two, etc.

With respect to the expected size of the DRAM cell 10, a 5 micron (um) by 5 um area is anticipated, for example. Heavily p⁺ doped layer 18 would be about 0.5 um thick, and this dimension which would approximately set the depth of the trench 20. It will be appreciated that these dimensions are illustrative only and do not limit the scope of the invention. These are simply some suggested dimensions that might be used with 1 um design rules, that is, with a gate length of 1 um.

If the capacitor dielectric layer 26 was silicon dioxide and had a thickness of approximately 100 Angstroms, and the perimeter of the sidewall structure (capacitor plate) 42 is 20 um and the depth of the p⁺ layer 18 was 0.5 um, a capacitance of approximately 35 femtofarads (ff) is available. An alternate cell with the same capacitance would have an area of 12.5 um², a perimeter of 15 um and a depth of 0.7 um.

The thin dielectric layer 26 on top of the heavily p⁺ doped layer 18 may be thicker than depicted, and this can be easily achieved during a reoxidation step after the formation of sidewall structure 42.

Shown in FIG. 2 is cross-section of an alternate embodiment of the present inventive cell. Note that the elements of the cell are more compactly arranged laterally. The cell 10 of FIG. 1 could also have its elements arranged more compactly than shown; the elements therein are more spread out for the sake of clarity.

The cell portion 50 of FIG. 2 is part of a SRAM cell built into a semiconductor substrate 52 again having a lightly doped n⁻ body 54, a lightly p⁻ doped layer 56 and a heavily p⁺ doped layer 58 at the substrate 52 surface. As before, the substrate 52 bears a trench 60 having a floor or bottom 62 and at least one wall 64. The entire surface of the substrate 52, including the wall 64 and floor 62 of trench 60 are covered by thin dielectric layer 66 which will serve as the gate dielectric for FET 68 in the floor 62 of the trench 60. A trench sidewall load device 70 is also present around the trench wall 64. As will be described later, in this embodiment the trench sidewall load device 70 is a resistive device or resistor, thus cell 50 is a SRAM cell, rather than a DRAM cell.

FET 68 has source/drain regions 72 and 74 in the floor 62 of the trench separated by a channel 76. The thin dielectric layer 66 serves as the gate dielectric and patterned conductive material 78 on the dielectric 66 over the channel 76 overlapping the source/drain regions 72 and 74 serves as the FET gate 78.

The trench sidewall load device 70 is simply the sidewall illustrated made of a conductive but resistive material to form a resistive load or resistor. For example, a suitable material would be lightly n⁻ doped polycrystalline silicon as shown in FIG. 2. The resistor 70 may extend partway or completely around the wall 64 of the trench 60, similarly to the sidewall structure 42 in FIG. 1. The trench sidewalls 70 may be formed by any of the known processes for forming sidewalls in general, such as a conformal deposition over the surface and an anisotropic etch to remove the layer from the horizontal or lateral portions of the surface leaving the layer on the vertical surfaces. However, a patterned etch may also be in order. For example, one advantage that the present invention has over known SRAM cells with a load resistor on the top of the cell (such as over the gate), which requires two conductive material layers, is that the conductive material layer that makes up gate 78 may be the same layer that makes up sidewalls 70. This feature is of particular advantage in the DRAM embodiment where gate 38 and sidewall 42 may be equally conductive.

However, the load should be connected to one of the electrodes of FET 68, that is, source/drain 72, source/drain 74 or gate 78. Shown in FIG. 2, but not limited thereto, is the interconnection of resistor 70 to source/drain 72 via contact 80 through the thin dielectric layer 66. It should be realized that contact 80 is only schematically shown in FIG. 2, and that the contact may suitably be a buried contact, a shared contact or a silicided contact.

The resistive sidewall load 70 should be insulated from the other conductive layers with a dielectric layer 82. Such a layer 82 may be grown as through thermal oxidation or deposited, as in the case of CVD silicon oxide or silicon nitride. Further, as with the capacitor 30 of the FIG. 1 embodiment, resistor 70 need not extend entirely around the perimeter of trench 60, or may be split into two or more individual load resistors which may be connected to different elements of the illustrated circuit.

Of course, a contact 86 should be cut or etched through dielectric layer 82 and a conformal conductive layer 88 may be laid down to provide contact to resistor 70. The particular contact 86 illustrated in FIG. 2 is not limiting, and any suitable contact between conductive layer 88 and load device 70 is suitable, such as a buried contact. It will be apparent that the resistor 70 does not require the presence of heavily doped p⁺ layer 58, however layer 58 is shown to illustrate that the SRAM cell 50 herein can be integrated with the DRAM cell 10 of FIG. 1. Conductive layer 88 may be a metal, such as aluminum, a doped semiconductor material, a refractory metal silicide, or a combination thereof. Typically, the conductive layer 88 is covered by passivation layer 90 for physical and electrical protection. If the surface features are not too discontinuous, layers 88 and 90 may be laid down with assurance that they will be conformal and not have shorting problems. Again, conductive line 88 may be considered to be the connection to the power supply.

Again, the operation of the SRAM cell portion 50 of FIG. 2 is identical with the operation of the conventional one-transistor, one-resistor SRAM cell already known in the art. New features with respect to the present invention concern the trench cell configuration and structure employing the sidewall load device which permits the cell to occupy less lateral area. 

I claim:
 1. An integrated circuit structure having a trench sidewall load device formed in a semiconductor substrate, comprising:a semiconductor substrate of first conductivity type and first dopant concentration having a surface region of said first conductivity type and a second dopant concentration greater than said first dopant concentration, a trench extending into said substrate to a depth greater than the thickness of said surface region, said trench having a floor and at least one wall around the perimeter of the trench, at least one sidewall structure in the trench wall, and a transistor in the floor of the trench, the transistor comprising first and second spaced apart doped regions of a second conductivity type formed in said substrate of first dopant concentration forming source and drain regions, respectively, and a gate structure overlying the space between the source and drain regions, wherein the sidewall structure is formed of conductive material and is connected to at least one of the source/drain regions or the gate structure to serve as a load thereto.
 2. The integrated circuit structure of claim 1 wherein the sidewall structure forms a passive load.
 3. The integrated circuit structure of claim 2 wherein the passive load is a capacitor.
 4. The integrated circuit structure of claim 2 wherein the passive load is a resistor.
 5. The integrated circuit structure of claim 1 wherein the semiconductor substrate is monocrystalline silicon and the conductive material of the sidewall structure is doped polycrystalline silicon.
 6. The integrated circuit of claim structure 1 wherein at least one sidewall structure is connected to each of the source/drain regions.
 7. A trench integrated circuit cell having a sidewall load formed in a semiconductor substrate, comprising:a semiconductor substrate of first conductivity type; a trench within a face of the semiconductor substrate, the trench having a perimeter, at least one vertical wall around the perimeter and a bottom surface; at least one sidewall structure in the vertical trench wall extending at least partially around the perimeter of the trench; and a lateral transistor along the floor of the trench having two source/drain regions formed as two doped regions of a second conductivity type in said bottom surface and spaced apart by a channel region; one gate positioned over and electrically isolated from the channel region; and wherein the sidewall structure is formed of conductive material and is connected to at least one of the doped source/drain regions or the gate to serve as a load thereto.
 8. The integrated circuit of claim 7 wherein the sidewall structure forms a passive load.
 9. The integrated circuit of claim 8 wherein the passive load is a capacitor, and one plate of the capacitor is a region of conductive semiconductor material in the wall of the trench.
 10. The integrated circuit of claim 8 wherein the passive load is a resistor.
 11. The integrated circuit of claim 7 wherein the semiconductor substrate is monocrystalline silicon and the conductive material of the sidewall structure is doped polycrystalline silicon.
 12. The integrated circuit of claim 7 wherein at least one sidewall structure is connected to each of the source/drain regions.
 13. A trench integrated circuit memory cell having a sidewall load formed in a semiconductor substrate, comprising:a semiconductor substrate having a face and a doped semiconductor layer of first conductivity type in the face; a trench within the face of the semiconductor substrate and extending through the doped semiconductor layer, the trench having: a perimeter; at least one vertical wall around the perimeter; and a bottom surface; a lateral MOS field effect transistor (FET) within the bottom surface of the trench, wherein the MOS FET has: two doped source/drain regions of a second conductivity formed in said bottom surface and type separated by a channel region within the semiconductor substrate; a gate dielectric layer over the channel region; and a gate region on the gate dielectric layer substantially covering the channel region; at least one conductive material sidewall on at least a portion of the vertical wall of the trench and insulatively spaced from the doped semiconductor layer to form the sidewall load; and an electrical connection between the conductive material sidewall and one of the lateral MOS FET source/drain regions or the gate.
 14. A trench static random access memory (SRAM) cell formed in a semiconductor substrate, the SRAM cell comprising:a semiconductor substrate having a face of one conductivity type; a surface layer of said one conductivity type and a high dopant concentration; a trench having a perimeter, at least one vertical wall around the perimeter and a bottom surface within the face of the semiconductor substrate and extending below the surface layer; at least one sidewall structure in the vertical trench wall running at least part way around a perimeter of the trench, wherein the sidewall structure is formed of conductive but resistive material; and a lateral transistor along the floor of the trench having two doped source/drain regions of an opposite conductivity type in the substrate and below the surface layer spaced apart by a channel region; one gate positioned over and electrically isolated from the channel region; and wherein at least one of the sidewall structures is electrically connected to one of the doped source/drain regions or the gate as a load resistor.
 15. A trench dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cell formed in a semiconductor substrate, the DRAM cell comprising:a semiconductor substrate having a face and a doped layer of semiconductive material of first conductivity type in the face; a trench having a perimeter, at least one vertical wall around the perimeter and a bottom surface within the face of the semiconductor substrate and extending below the doped layer; a thin capacitor dielectric layer over the trench including the wall and bottom surface thereof; at least one sidewall structure in the vertical trench wall running at least part way around a perimeter of the trench, opposite the doped semiconductor layer across the thin capacitor dielectric layer, wherein the sidewall structure is formed of conductive material; a lateral transistor along the floor of the trench below the doped layer having two doped source/drain regions of second conductivity type in said bottom surface and spaced apart by a channel region; and wherein at least one of the sidewall structures is electrically connected to one of the doped source/drain regions or the gate.
 16. The DRAM cell of claim 15 wherein the trench is approximately the same depth into the substrate as the doped layer of semiconductive material is thick. 